Can you belive what you read?

Am I being too skeptical??

I have noticed on researching for my last couple of trips that heaps of hotels have many reviews by one time reviewers.

Is this because people only bother to write if that have had a fabulous time or a really awful one?

A couple of small hotels I have looked at have an unusual number of glowing reviews. It is hard to believe with the number of rooms they have they get that many comments let a lone positive ones.

Anyone else experiences this or has any thoughts?

Can you belive what you read?

Hi Ange,

I have heard from others that some of the revues are written by the Hotel staff or owners, i don%26#39;t know if its a common practice but the art of deception is common.

For an honest review post a question about a hotel on this forum and you will get answers from the members.

Cheers, Pete.

Can you belive what you read?

I%26#39;m sure that there is the odd %26#39;biased%26#39; review, however many of the reviewers (myself included) are members of this forum and so offering an honest opinion of a particular stay. However what one person loves the next person may hate and this will always be reflected in a personal review.

When l was looking at the reviews for a number of hotels I found that 50% had never posted any questions on here and had only done a review of one hotel. Very suspicious?????

Dont think that everyone has to ask a question and are happy to reply to posts if they think they can help.

Cant see anything sinister in that. I only comment on the Patong Merlin as it is the only hotel that I have stayed in in Phuket and making our 7th visit next week ';'; cant wait '; dont really see any evidence of promotion by the hotels or companies that affect this forum...Cheers...Ronnie.

Hi,

If you honestly think about it anyone can sign up for the forum and post a review.

For example, the owner or employee of a hotel can say they are Mary from Aussie or from anywhere and pretend that they are an actual client of any hotel.

My thought would be to check all travel forums for reviews and ratings.

I wouldn%26#39;t necessarily take them as gospel - the prices of the hotels varies hugely so you%26#39;re not comparing like with like, which is why I always get annoyed when people criticise, say, the Cape Panwa, which is an inexpensive hotel. You can only reasonably compare hotels of a similar rating and price but they%26#39;re all lumped in together. And it%26#39;s true that liking a hotel is so much down to personal taste - I agree that the Cape Panwa is a bit dated and could do with a revamp but it%26#39;s peaceful private beach and welcoming staff more than make up for the lack of stylish decor.

There are plenty of places where you find reviews from the guests, on those websites that do the hotel bookings the %26#39;only way%26#39; someone can submit a review is if they have booked and stayed at the particular hotel, there is no other way, so I should search around as there are plenty of places to find hotel reviews and if you want those reviews I would stick with those places where a person has had to certainly be a guest in otrder to post a review of the place.

HI

as monica has said there are lot more sites than TA that post reviews

when I am checking out new hotel I check all sites that I can find.

by reading all the post you can usually get a general feel of the hotel

I always throw out or put little value in 1 bad post espicially if the person has only posted that one bad review. one of my favorite hotels in Bangkok got slammed by a poster but it was his only post ever . I am sure he had a bad time but who knows why.

his main complaint was that the staff was unfriendly';they didn%26#39;t speak english';

but you have to be skeptical. I would be skeptical if a large number of positive post%26#39;s come immediately after a bad review.

people will only post if they really love a place or if they really hated it.

--skeptical-- well i don%26#39;t think you are-- if you /i--owned a hotel in los or anywhere--and saw bad reports

you/i /we would certainly post good ones amongst them!

i know i would !

Must admit, have seen what appear an unusually large number of positive reviews for the place we are staying at in the last few weeks

Most appear to be by 1 time reviewers and are somewhat brief. But, as we are well and truly booked and leave in about 10 days....figure its not worth the worry. Just hope they are all genuine and hope my many hours of research will pay off.